I converted her into having sex with me

How do you combine creation with conversion?

BY Tom De Bruyne3 min read

There is an intense debate going on between the branding camp and the conversion camp. You could almost call it a fight between tribes. One camp accuses the other of a blatant zero feel for brands. The other camp simply fails to see the use of working in such a dumb and terribly old-fashioned way. Both camps seem to be right, yet the question is whether being right is the issue at stake here.

Admittedly, if continued beyond a certain point, the digital industry’s collective obsession with gathering an ever-increasing amount of data seems to stop making sense. The obsession seems rooted in a generalised image of humanity: if we just gather enough statistics about what people do and link that to what they say and buy, in the end we can make them the ultimate, unique offer. Marketing heaven.

This is the point where the creative camp comes marching in at full force. Human behaviour is far more complex than the data boys would like to believe: the more an item is handed to us on a silver platter, the less desirable it is. In a world where we are subject to increasingly sophisticated temptations, we seek our refuge in items or actions that we feel are alternative, stubbornly individual or authentic. Creatives are aware of the fact that mankind is actually more dynamic than the Pavlovian dogs that seem to inhabit the data world.

What we are really waiting for, is for someone to build a Camp Seduction, based on the best both camps have to offer. With data-driven creative concepts that surprise people, touch people, move people and which, because of their ultra-smart conversion machine, lead all the way to sales.

The possibilities of data allow us to play the seduction game, and play it more shrewdly at every level. Let us then cease to be so condescending about the word conversion. Conversion can be unbelievably sexy. Little is more arousing than feeling how all the pieces of a campaign fit together, and how the engine of the seduction machine starts throbbing like a Harley-Davidson.